SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON D.C.
Litigation Release No. 15125 / October 16, 1996
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. PETER M. HARRINGTON, Civ. 96-
0079(A) (W.D.N.Y 1996).
On October 3, 1996, a Default Judgment was entered against Peter M.
Harrington ("Harrington") by the Honorable Richard J. Arcara, United
States District Court Judge for the Western District of New York,
which enjoins Harrington from future violations of Section 17(a) of
the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-
5 thereunder. Harrington was also ordered to pay disgorgement of
$933,188.28, prejudgment interest in the amount of $99,633.63, and a
civil penalty of $100,000.
The Complaint in the above action alleged, among other things, that,
from at least March 1991 through June 1995, Harrington, the president
and sole owner of Harrington Securities Corporation ("HSC"), a
registered broker-dealer, misappropriated at least $982,992.83 from
eighteen of his customers by using an elaborate scheme involving,
among other things, material misrepresentations, forged endorsement
signatures on clearing firm checks, and fabricated confirmation
statements. To induce investors to invest with him, Harrington
falsely told investors that he would invest their funds in
certificates of deposit ("CDs") issued by various banks. He falsely
represented that the CDs paid 10% interest; were insured by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"); and were a completely
riskless investment. However, Harrington never purchased CDs for his
customers with the funds which they entrusted to him for that purpose.
Instead of investing these customers' funds in CDs, Harrington
deposited his customers' funds into several of his personal bank
accounts. Furthermore, to conceal the misappropriation of his
customers' funds, Harrington prepared and mailed letters to the
customers titled "Confirmation," which purported to confirm that funds
remitted by the customers had been invested in CDs. In addition,
Harrington, without his customers' knowledge, consent, or
authorization, placed orders to sell the securities of his customers
being held in their HSC brokerage accounts. Harrington
misappropriated the proceeds from the unauthorized sales of these
customers' securities by forging the customers' signatures on the
proceeds checks and then depositing these checks into his personal
bank accounts.
For further information see Lit. Rel. No. 14812.